Assam Company India Limited (ACIL) is using technology to improve traceability, productivity, and crop spraying safety at its tea gardens.

Imagine this. You enjoy a cup of the legendary Assam tea and want to tip the tea garden worker who plucked it. Now you can – through an app to be launched by the Assam Company.

Tea producing estates pay the tea garden workers who pluck the tea leaves a mere Rs 300-350 ($4-$5) per day. But ACIL, the oldest tea company in the world, is about to change that.

Assam Company will use artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technology and big data

ACIL is partnering with American agri-tech company SmartFarms Inc. to implement an innovative “Farm to Cup” system that transmits a reward from a satisfied tea drinker to the farmer who plucked the tea.

Also, with assistance from SmartFarms, Assam Company will be the first company to test and use an agricultural drone for spraying liquid chemicals and pesticides on the tea bushes. Therefore, farmers need not do this manually by carrying a hand-operated sprayer on their backs.

Further, ACIL director Sanjay Jain said an Israeli firm would assist with DNA barcoding and RFID technology. This technology will enable traceability of the tea from the moment of plucking to the time of its consumption.

“If anyone in America drinking a cup of tea wants to tip the farmer who plucked the leaves, they will be able to do so. It will be an app-based system,” Jain said.

Assam Company secured the highest price ever in the history of India at auction this past year for its valuable Assam tea.

Assam Company emerges from bankruptcy

BRS Ventures Investment Ltd had successfully bid for Assam Company under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. It acquired the company in September 2018.

Founded by Dr. BR Shetty and his wife, Dr. CR Shetty, BRS Ventures is a private Business House. It holds various and durable investment interests in agriculture, technology, research, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, catering, and education sectors.

Over the last decade, it has listed two companies, NMC HEALTH PLC and FINABLR PLC, in the London Stock Exchange in the Healthcare and Fintech sectors, respectively.

Blockchain making inroads into agriculture

Last month, Ant Financial Services Group, an affiliated company of the Chinese Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA), tied up with Bayer Crop Science to create a blockchain-enabled platform for monitoring agricultural products.The two companies will use blockchain technology to develop a more efficient system that will help farmers generate more income. The agricultural product monitoring platform will also ensure high-quality food production.

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